This website is an extension of the book "Hemp for Victory: History and Qualities of the World's Most Useful Plant." [ISBN 0-9549939-0-X, London, Whitaker Publishing, 2006. Ordering information: info@whitakerpublishing.co.uk/www.whitakerpublishing.co.uk] On this site will be found excerpts from the book along with updates, posted in the aim of giving the hemp world the latest information on the growth of the hemp movement.

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Friday, January 26, 2007

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EUROPEAN HEMP INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION 4th ANNUAL MEETING

On 21 & 22 November, 2006 the EIHA held an international conference in Germany. 90 Hemp experts from 23 countries attended. Among the highlights were: A report from Erik Shi of Yunnan Industrial Hemp Inc. who reported on the tremendous growth rate in the Chinese hemp industry; reports from Canada note that there are now 50,000 acres under cultivation exclusively for food use, mostly sold to their southern neighbour; Daniel Kruso of Hempro International, a German firm, talked about the nature of hemp trading in Europe, which he noted was mainly e-commerce and farm shops; Bengt Svennerstedt of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences talked about interest from IKEA, Volvo and Saab in hemp fibres for industrial applications.; from the Czech Republic Jaroslav Skoumal of CANABIA told the assembled about the resurgence of hemp in his country, which now has 2,500 acres under cultivation; Italy's Gruppo Fibranova was represented by Cesare Tofani, who talked about the reintroduction of hemp to the Italian textile industry, for which seperation into high grade long fibres, priced at 2.5-3 Euros/kg and processed by enzyme retting and wet spinning, was under way; more on hemp fibre processing was discussed by Marcel Toonen of Plant Research International from Holland; Asian participants weighed in on the pressing matter of deveopling hemp textiles to replace cotton, which is becoming a pest plant all over the world; Bernd Frank of Badische Naturfaseraufbereitung, a German company, talked about a new Dutch cultivar, Chameleon, which yields a bright fibre which is easy to decorticate; Michael Carus, managing director of another German outfit, nova-Institut, held forth on the use of hemp fibres in the automotive industry, which used 19,000 tons of natural fibres in 2005; From France, Pierre Bouloc and Francois Desanlis reported on R&D into paper, including projects utilising the hurd.

For a more detailed report, contact me at cotingas@hotmail.com and I can send as an attachment a lengthier write up on the event.